Fearon, Jamaican-born, wrote a rags-to-riches tale when she won the equlavent of J$4.6 billion in last week’s Mega Millions lotto drawing in New York.

Fearon spent part of her youth in a homeless shelter and went on to endure sickening abuse from the monsters in her care.

“She’s had faeces thrown in her face and on her uniform in the years that she’s been there,” said a fellow jail guard. “She’s a tough young lady.”

How she won is as remarkable as her change of fortune.

Fearon said she bought the wrong ticket at a Sutter Avenue bodega, where she went to play Powerball, not Mega Millions.

“I only play every six months or so,” said Fearon, who has a 16-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter.

She held on to the ticket all weekend, and didn’t think about it until Monday, when she asked a co-worker for a newspaper. She scribbled the winning numbers on the back of an inmate pass as her shift ended.

Hard times struck again four years ago, when burglars robbed her apartment while she was at work guarding dangerous inmates. (Photo via The New York Post William Farrington)

The discovery

As she waited for the bus, she made the amazing discovery.

“I was about to fold up the lottery ticket,” Fearon said. “Then I saw the numbers, and I started running from one part of the parking lot to the other screaming.”